Solar Eclipse
by Silver Moon Vampiress
Summary: After witnessing a solar eclipse, Alice and Jasper switch bodies. As a result, their relationship changes. Rated M for lemons and lemony content in future chapters. This is for the Jasper and Alice Roleplaying Lemon Contest. Please read & review!
1. The Eclipse

A/N: All right, so this is my first time ever writing a fanfic based on my favorite book series. Please go easy on me! I haven't read the Twilight books in a while, so bear with me if the plot is inconsistent. This is for the Jasper and Alice Role playing Lemon Contest. Here goes! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight series; Stephanie Meyer does. Enough said.

Solar Eclipse

Chapter 1: _The Eclipse_

_The images were fuzzy . . . the faces were warbled masses of color. Alice was having a vision._

_The sun was a bright, cheery object overhead and its rays reflected off the surface of a lake. She could see herself taking in the comforting warmth of the sun and she was subconsciously aware of Jasper's presence nearby. Images of Jasper—a beastly figure—stalking the shadows of the forests, hunting the weak-willed and unsuspecting flashed across her mind. This was how she found him—a mere husk of the human he used to be prior to his change._

_Images of the past became distorted then, dissolving into a myriad of colors like that of water washing over a freshly painted wall. The sun-warmed images of the lake, with the sun overhead, flooded her mind and she suddenly became aware of a darkness that had overtaken the breathtaking scene; flashes of the darkened sun intermittently disrupted the picturesque scene of tranquility. Then Jasper was suddenly by her side; his touch invoked a burning sensation and her vision ended with a piercing stab of pain in the back of her mind._

******

Alice opened her eyes with a painful gasp that stung entering her lungs. She took a few moments to orient her thoughts and make sense of the images that had appeared in her vision, but they were quickly edging their way out her mind even as she struggled to grasp the last few fleeting strands, which still remained. After a while Alice gave up, deeming her attempts to be futile and forced herself out of her meditative stance, lightly stretching her body in a cat-like fashion. Quietly exiting her bedroom, she made her way into the hall, approaching the first door she came across, which happened to be Edward's.

He came to the door before her knuckles could descend upon it, face stoic, as was his usual expression in the morning, except when he was around Bella. His eyes searched her face and she could feel the stirrings in the back of her mind as he rifled through her mind, attempting to sort out her thoughts. She knew he was probably picking up on the distressing signal her thoughts were giving off, but she was careful to give nothing away about her vision.

"There's going to be a solar eclipse tomorrow. We can't be in school."

"All right . . ." Edward says quietly, eyes still searching her face as if her thoughts were displayed across her features in plain sight.

Alice smiled briefly before flitting down the hall to Rosalie's room, then Emmett's, then Carlisle and Esme's. She saved Jasper's for last, wishing to divulge the contents of her vision, which concerned the both of them within the privacy of his room. Alice knocked politely on the door to his room and Jasper flung it open silently, his hair immaculate as ever since he never slept. Neither did the rest.

"Good morning," she chimes, forcing out an unnaturally thick coating of faux cheer.

"Good morning," he mumbles.

He could easily sense, from her emotions alone, that there was something wrong—that she was concerned about something of great importance. And though he could not read her mind, he could easily pick up on the distraught mess her emotions had found themselves in. Her emotions enticed him, distracted him—attracted him to her. He had never met anyone in his lifetime that had been able to affect him in such a way, simply by the fluctuation of his or her emotions. He direly wanted to reach out to her and touch her, if only briefly, but he fought the notion down, instead, leaning against the doorframe.

Alice's lips lifted in a half-hearted smile and Jasper's mind reeled with the desire to manipulate her emotions—toy with them—coaxing out the boundless joy that lay dormant within her. He wanted to make her laugh—a beauteous sound of unadulterated bliss—but he didn't.

"Would you like to come in so we can talk," he asked quietly, his eyes searching the hallway. Just as he had suspected, Edward was down the hall, pretending to reenter his room. Jasper knew Edward had been spying on them, but ignored his presence tactfully. Jasper makes a mental note to shield his thoughts and he hopes that Alice remembers to do the same in order to maintain their privacy.

Alice nodded silently, happy to oblige, and he stepped aside to allow her access into his darkened room. Once she had settled down on the sole piece of furniture—a cushioned hard-backed chair—Jasper shut the door and made his way over to his bed. He sat down facing her, waiting for her to share what had her emotions tied in disconcerted knots. For the longest time, Alice kept her eyes downcast, but at last she swiveled her gaze to meet his, worry shining vividly within her gloriously golden eyes.

"What's wrong, Alice," he asks when she had remained silent for far longer than he could stand. She sighs, a sound he very rarely witnesses, escaping the usually bright and cheery woman before him.

"I don't know . . ." she pauses for a moment and Jasper motions for her to continue her monologue.

"I had a vision about the solar eclipse tomorrow. The eclipse seemed to have some connection to us because images of us together kept being overshadowed by the appearance of it. I don't know what it means, but I have a bad feeling about it."

Jasper was overwhelmed by the anxiety that was pouring off Alice as she relived the remnants of her ambiguous vision laced with a tinge of uncertainty. "Or maybe it's a good thing," he said, attempting to cheer her up. When his words did nothing to lighten her mood, he tried to assert his control over her emotions.

"Quit it Jasper," she hisses in frustration rather than true anger. "I don't want you toying with my emotions like that . . ."

"Sorry," he whispers, shrinking away from the underlying ferocity in her tone.

If he wasn't certain before, he could be certain now: Alice was well and truly upset.

After a pause he says, "Don't worry too much about it Alice. I'm sure everything will be fine."

Alice smiles at his attempt to be encouraging. It is very rare that he is the optimist of the duo and she could tell he was struggling with his newfound optimism.

"Why don't you get ready for school? I'll meet you downstairs in about fifteen minutes," he says to relieve the tension that was building from the undue, eerie silence.

"Sure," Alice says, getting up gracefully to leave.

As an afterthought, Jasper adds, "Want to cut after lunch and meditate? It'll make you feel better and clear your mind of its anxiety over this vision."

"I'd like that," she says with a smile before gliding over to the door and opening it to find Edward lurking outside in the hall, trying his best to look inconspicuous, but failing miserably; his look is curious and Alice wonders what he heard that piqued this amount of interest in him.

"'Morning Eddie," Alice chimes, miraculously regaining her vibrantly exuberant cheer. She reaches up on her tiptoes to rifle his gelled hair before twirling down the hall to her room.

******

Thirty minutes later, Edward, Alice, and Jasper pile into Edward's Volvo and they speed off to another day of school. Alice and Jasper are squished together comfortably in the back seat, for they never had issues with close contact with each other; it just came naturally to them, much like breathing did for humans and animals. Outside the foggy window, the lulling scene of endless trees, wet pavement and mossy green foliage whizzed by in a multitudinous blurb of monotone color. The speedometer leapt to 100 miles per hour in minutes, but neither of them was alerted to the rapid acceleration; the tranquil scene outside the nearly stifling comfort of the car entranced them. When at last they entered town, Edward eased up on the gas in order to be courteous to the more speed conscious drivers of Forks.

The instant Edward parks the car Alice and Jasper get out on their respective sides, slamming their doors shut in unison before they began to trek towards the main entrance of Forks High School. They walk alongside each other with Edward a few paces behind them. While beside her, Jasper is alerted by the distressing nature of Alice's thoughts and her troubled emotions begin to distract him immensely. He is tempted to reach for her hand to ease the turmoil of her thoughts using his gift of emotional manipulation, but doesn't, for fear she may be driven away again. Alice is oblivious to Jasper's struggle to comfort her the only way he knows how, for she is ensnared in the sticky web of her disconcerting thoughts.

Like a pinprick in the back of his skull, Jasper can feel Edward forcing his way through his mind's shields and sifting through his thoughts. The instant he realizes that his mind has been infiltrated, Jasper turns to Edward and glares at him full force without losing pace with a genuflecting Alice beside him. That one glare is enough to drive Edward to leave his mind and leave him alone—for now. Jasper knew that somehow, someway, Edward would get answers; Jasper just wasn't willing to give Edward those answers at the moment. At last they arrived in the halls of their high school and went their separate ways to attend their morning classes.

******

Before long, lunchtime rolls by and Jasper and Alice meet in one of the vacant staircases of Forks High School and easily slip out of the school building undetected. They take a back road that leads away from the school and into the forest that frames the wet pavement of the road. Once they are far enough away from Forks High School and the prying eyes of Forks' inhabitants, they glide and leap lithely through the surrounding forest in search of the perfect place to meditate. Alice and Jasper soon find an open clearing fringed by majestic oaks and pines and they settle down there to take in the fresh air and placid, lulling noises of the surrounding forest.

"Thank you so much for coming here with me, Jasper; I appreciate it. You always know what I need."

Alice smiles at him and closes her eyes, taking in a deep cleansing breath of the scent of pine and damp soil. She is unaware of the smile that graces Jasper's lips as he watches her settle into a meditative state; Jasper follows her lead and shuts his eyes, drowning out all distractions but the subtle sounds of nature around them. They sit for hours amongst the canopy of foliage overhead and the natural comfort of a living breathing forest sheltering them from the outside world. Soon, however, it grows dark and they are forced to head home where they are sure to be met with speculative glances and worried visages. As soon as they step over the threshold, the rest of their family is waiting for them, all except Esme who was more than likely having her daily motherly anxiety attack.

"Where have you been," Carlisle asks. "Your mother has been sick with worry. Have you been getting into trouble?"

"No," they answer in unison.

"Well then, Edward told me that you two disappeared after lunch and that you didn't show up in the school parking lot after your last class," Carlisle intones with a tinge of accusation hidden within his usually friendly voice. "So what have you two been doing all afternoon?"

"Meditating," Alice simply answers.

"Why?"

"Because . . ." Jasper begins, but is tactfully cut off by Alice.

"Because Jasper needed to relax a bit after a trying day with the humans."

Jasper gives Alice a quick, speculatively confused glance—barely discernable by the naked eye—before he says, "Yes . . . the scent of so many humans and their emotions weakened my constitution and nearly brought me to the brink of an overwhelming blood lust and Alice noticed this right away during lunch. So afterwards, Alice took me away for awhile to calm me down and prevent a prospective disaster that would have jeopardized our lifestyle here."

Carlisle gives them a skeptical look, but drops any further questions when he hears Esme's distressing sob from the top of the stairs.

"Well, next time it happens, try to do it the right way. Just go to the nurse's office and have them call me so that I can have you both pulled out of class for the rest of the day. I don't want you two failing your classes because of a tarnished record dotted with recurring cuts." With that said, Carlisle leaves to comfort a distraught Esme. Rosalie and Emmett follow soon afterwards, heading to their respective rooms.

A discomforting silence settled in the room afterwards once they left, leaving only Alice, Edward and Jasper. All the while, Edward continued to stare at them with curious eyes, before breaking the silence.

"So what's the real reason why you cut the rest of the day," Edward asks.

"It's like we told Carlisle; Jasper wasn't feeling well." Alice smiles warmly and speeds towards the top of the stairs with Jasper in her wake. Once they arrive in front of her bedroom door, she opens it and ushers him in, shutting the door behind them, before leaning her back against it.

"Why didn't you tell Carlisle about your vision," Jasper asks quietly.

Alice sighs, for she knew Jasper was bound to ask such a question and she wasn't as entirely prepared for it as she originally thought. "I didn't want to worry Carlisle over nothing. Besides, my visions are subjective; they can always change, so I'm not going to worry about it and neither should you," she says after a brief pause.

She pushes away from the door and eases past him silently to situate herself on her mat to meditate for the night. "Goodnight Jasper," she says from her perch on the floor.

"Goodnight," he mutters before exiting her room without a sound.

As her makes his way down the hall to his room, he can't help but be disturbed by Alice's nonchalant attitude towards her vision. He could discern from her emotions alone that she was giving it more thought than she was letting on. One thing was absolutely certain: he was not going to drop the subject easily; he would bring it up again later. Jasper enters his room with the stealth of a predator and settles down to meditate until morning.

******

The next day, clouds hang overhead, serving as a superficial blanket that shelters the sun's face and blocks its warmth, but the warmth that peppers the air is a prelude to the warm temperatures that are sure to warm the Earth. Alice is roused from her meditative state by a tentative knock on her door.

"Come in," she chimes.

Edward opens the door a crack and peeks his head in before stepping inside the quaint, neat perfection of her room.

"I'm going out to the meadow with Bella, he says. After an awkward pause he asks, "Have you had any recurring visions about Bella and I . . ."

"No . . ." Alice says with a serious note to her usually cheery voice. Edward makes a move to leave but halts when Alice calls out to him.

"Oh and Eddie. Do refrain from eating her, all right? She is the first girlfriend you've had for years," Alice says with a giggle.

"Shut up," Edward hisses, before haphazardly tossing a vase full of flowers at her head, which she lithely avoids. The vase smashes against the back wall in a rain of porcelain and moist soil and Edward leaves, slamming the door in his wake and rushing out to his car.

Not long afterwards, Alice hears the revving roar of the Volvo's engine outside and the squealing of tires as Edward guns the engine and speeds towards Bella's house before the sun peeks out from between the patches of clouds. Alice once again settles down on her mat to meditate, but is soon disturbed by another knock on her door.

"Come in," she says in the same chime-like tone as before, eyes never opening to acknowledge her newest visitor.

Jasper enters the room and shuts the door behind him silently, before crossing over to Alice and sitting down before her on the mat. "Are you all right?"

Alice opens her eyes in shock. "Oh it's you Jasper. I'm fine. I was just toying with Eddie."

Jasper laughs at this and smiles at the comforting sensation that settles within him when he releases his tightly wound emotions. Part of being able to control his emotions meant keeping close tabs on his own and focusing in on others' emotions. His laugh sends chills of joy down Alice's spine and she wonders if Jasper's laugh also allows him to manipulate the emotions around him. She pushes this speculation aside however; she likes it when he laughs, because it puts her at ease. Alice closes her eyes in concentration once again and focuses on clearing her mind.

After a while, Jasper reaches out to touch her and she jolts from the contact, but her eyes still remain closed.

"Hey . . . Alice . . ." he whispers to her.

"Hmm . . ." she murmurs nervously, trying hard to ignore the cool pressure of his hand on her arm.

"Do you want to hang out somewhere and watch the solar eclipse? Everyone else is out of the house."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Jasper says matter-of-factly. "Carlisle and Esme went to go spend time together, Rosalie and Emmett went to their favorite spot—the creek—and Edward went to go spend time with Bella for the day. I was thinking we could go hiking together and locate our own spot to spend time."

Jasper's hand trails up her arm and she shivers lightly. "Umm . . . Sure," she intones barely above a whisper.

She finally opens her eyes to find Jasper, leaning precariously close to her face; his cool breath was fanning her face and a drowning intensity was shining in his eyes.

"Well . . . I-I better get ready then . . ." Alice stammers, pulling her arm away from his idle caress and leaning away from the intimately close proximity of his face.

Jasper rises fluidly without a word and stalks over to the door, shutting it tightly behind him. Alice breathes a sigh and lurches to her feet in a most eloquent and enviable way, stretching her stiff muscles lightly before she glides over to her closet. She pulls out a pair of jeans, a thick, black long-sleeved sweater and a plain, white short-sleeved shirt to go on underneath in case the atmosphere heats to an unbearable crescendo. She quickly changes into her handpicked attire and stuffs her dainty feet into a pair of hiking boots. She grabs a blanket from the top shelf of her closet and then swiftly leaves her room and bounds down the stairs to meet Jasper.

Alice pauses briefly at the foot of the stairs to assess Jasper in his tan sweater rolled up at the sleeves, his black jeans and his hiking boots, which complete the outfit. She had to admit that despite how many times she had seen him, he somehow managed to grow more and more breathtaking by the day.

"Shall we," she says with a smile, gripping his hand in hers.

Jasper returns the gesture and encases her dainty one in his own before they exit out the front door casually. Their boots are silent as they stalk across the smooth pavement of the front drive towards the ever existent forests, which surround their home. Soon they enter the looming vastness of the forests, boots crunching over dry leaves and squishing through moist soil. They hike for several hours, hands still intertwined warmly; finally they discover a spot near a lake. There is a stony precipice that extends over the water and Alice and Jasper gravitate over to it and settle down to rest. The halcyon scene before them is a paradise in itself; there is nothing but the whispered voices of the trees as the wind blows through the leaves and the settling sounds of nature all about them.

"This is perfect! It has its own quaint, complacent feel; it'll be perfect for meditation! Thank you Jasper."

Alice turns to him, eyes shinning with pure, childlike joy, before turning away to continue to peruse and admire her surroundings. Jasper watches the play of emotions upon her pixie-like features as Alice flits around excitedly, before settling down beside him once again. She lays down the blanket and removes her sweater to soak in the sun's rays, before tumbling backwards onto her back gracefully. Jasper follows suit, laying down silently beside her, a rare smile of contentment gracing his lips. He takes in the exuberant high Alice's elevated spirits invoke in him while the sun's rays warm his exposed arms and the clothes that cling snugly to his body.

As Alice rests underneath the caressing blanket of heat that the sun's rays emit, she wonders if the sun's rays playing upon her cool skin is similar to what it feels like to be alive—to be endlessly warm. In the back of her mind, she longs to be alive once more; to be able to sleep, eat and behave like a normal teen would be worth more than superhuman strength and immortality combined. Now Alice understands why Edward was with Bella; the collective warmth of a living being is comforting and more than likely reminds him that he wasn't always a monster and that he too was once that warm and vibrantly alive. Jasper picks up on the bittersweet tang of Alice's emotions and he reaches out blindly to caress her outstretched hand to comfort her and ease her mind. Her emotions immediately respond to his touch and he feels that he has never been happier to be with someone in his entire life or death.

They remain silent for a while, hands brushing against each other lightly as the clouds ease across the sky in an endless track of cotton-like shapes. Alice's laughter drifts teasingly to his ears, disrupting the complacent silent that had settled over them. Jasper turns his head in question to discover what has drawn out such a joyous response from her. A streak of red dashes across his peripheral vision and attracts his attention; Jasper turns his eyes skyward and spies what has caught Alice's attention—a lone red balloon, gliding across the sky on a gentle, encouraging breeze. Alice laughs again, the sound bubbling up from the endless conglomeration of her pent-up joy.

"I wonder what happens when it reaches the atmosphere," she asks rhetorically.

Jasper rolls onto his side and props himself up on his elbow so that he is leaning over her prone form beneath him; their faces are inches away and their breath mingles intimately between them. Alice's eyes hold undying joy and she seems to welcome and embrace his undue close proximity to her, for she reaches up to caress the smooth pallid expanse of his left cheek. Jasper's long-forgotten human instincts are unearthed and overwhelm him with the feral need it invokes in him. He suddenly begins to crave the taste of Alice's sun-warmed lips and the press of her falsely warmed, iridescent skin.

Alice blinks slowly and smiles brightly. "The solar eclipse," she says with pure glee permeating from her every pore.

Alice sits up in a blur of speed and Jasper is forced to move away. They remain silent as the sun's rays are obstructed by the moon and the halcyon scene about them in is engulfed in shadow. All is still and silent as time ceases to continue onward and the entire world halts to watch this rare phenomenon. The silence is nearly deafening, but Alice and Jasper sit through it calmly, awaiting the return of the sun's face amongst the darkened clouds. Before long the eclipse ends and the world resumes its usual continuous motion, sound returning in a piercing rush to the Earth.

"Wow . . . that was . . ." Alice utters, but the rest of her words die in her throat as an odd, tingling—nearly burning—sensation courses through her body in convulsive waves. No sound escapes her as she collapses onto her side; the sensation is nothing like the piercing ache that oftentimes accompanies her visions—it's ten times worse.

Jasper scrambles to her side and cradles her convulsively, thrashing body in a hope to ease the apparent pain that has overtaken her senses. Alice soon fades into unconsciousness, the pain subsiding as the remnants of reality blur in abstract colors and shapes.

******

Alice awakens what seems like hours later, disoriented and with a dull ache throbbing at the base of her skull. Jasper becomes aware of Alice shifting in his arms and directs his attention to her as she struggles to piece together the events that led up to her easing into the dark clutches of unconsciousness. Relief was apparent in Jasper's dark eyes as he eased Alice to a sitting position, but she could see an underlying hint of worry there as well.

"Are you all right," he asks, surveying Alice for any sign of harm.

"Yeah . . . I don't know what happened . . ."

"Was it a vision?"

Alice began to nod, but decided against it when her vision began to swim in swirling dark spots and objects began to gray perceptibly around the edges. "I don't think so . . ." she whispers, her hands going to her temples to ease the nauseous ache that was plaguing her mind.

"We better get home before Carlisle and Esme begin to worry," he says after a pause. "Can you walk?"

Alice slowly clamors to her feet, lacking her usual eloquence, and unintentionally nods, which sends the world spinning about her. Alice begins to teeter off balance and Jasper catches her before she can fall onto her side, carefully scooping her into his arms so as not to aggravate her already disoriented sense of balance. Alice leans her head against Jasper's chest, taking comfort in being in his arms and shuts her eyes, focusing on the feel of Jasper's well-sculpted body underneath his clothes and the late afternoon sounds permeating the eerie silence that had settled over the lake and forest during the solar eclipse. Jasper can sense Alice's anguish and pain as he walks through the forest with her, and can't help but wonder what the solar eclipse has to do with Alice's strange behavior.

******

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next one is on its way and I should have it posted by today or tomorrow. Thanks for reading! Remember to leave me a review!

_Silver Moon Vampiress_


	2. The Switch

A/N: All right! It's crunch time! I've got a limited time to post the last three chapters for this story, so here's go nothing! Hope you enjoy this chapter and the following two I plan to post tonight!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight series or characters.

Solar Eclipse

Chapter 2: _The Switch_

Jasper sidles up the concrete drive of the Cullen home with Alice cradled in his arms at the stroke of twilight. With little effort, Jasper unlocks the door and eases into the eerie silence of their home. From the looks of things, everyone is still out with their respective partners, enjoying the last bit of daylight left in the inky purple hue of the sky. Jasper has a feeling that soon the deafening silence will be filled with the noise of inhabitance again and so he bustles up the stairs, carrying Alice to her bedroom. Once there, he shifts all of Alice's weight into one arm and effortlessly nudges the door open with his shoulder and ushers inside the gray darkness hugging the inside of her room.

For a few moments, Jasper is at a loss of what to do in order to prevent further agitation of Alice's condition. Thinking quickly, however, Jasper gently props Alice upright against her back wall and busies himself with making Alice's sole piece of furniture—a recliner—comfortable and more suitable for cradling her aching head. Once he feels he has done an adequate job of this, Jasper scoops Alice into the crook of his arms and settles her down into the cottony comfort of the several blankets and pillows he had positioned there on the recliner. Alice—with her eyes still tightly shut—is unaware of her newest surroundings, but she can feel Jasper's energy nearby and his gaze scorching through her with anxious apprehension. Once again Jasper is unsure of what to do next and just stands idly by, watching the slow rise and fall of Alice's chest as she takes in deep heaves of the air around her.

After a while, Jasper begins to feel that it is best to leave Alice alone and starts to turn on his heel to leave her in peace. He pauses, however, when he feels a familiar hand catch his arm in a firm, assertive grip.

"Don't go," Alice says with an undercurrent of desperation in her voice.

Though her eyes remain closed, Jasper is certain that her eyes are mirroring the desperation oozing painfully from her words. Jasper turns to look down at her then, his face an expressionless mask.

"Please don't go," she pleads once again, finally opening her eyes.

Jasper can read the need and fear there and these emotions blanket her in an aura of helplessness that he can't deny. Unable to resist Alice's plea, Jasper settles down beside her on the arm of the recliner noiselessly. The black leather hisses as Alice shifts to rest her head on his lap, a sigh escaping her. Jasper can feel her emotions beginning to ease into a faux zone of comfort just by his presence alone and the very idea of this warms a part of him he had long since thought had frozen over. He knew he couldn't provide her with true comfort, for he had no idea what was plaguing her mind, nor did he have the ability to relinquish her pain. All he could do was relieve her mind by remaining by her side.

Alice relishes in the startlingly swelling waves of relief that wash over her just by mere contact with Jasper. Though his gift gave him some measure of control over the effects he had on others, she suspected that a part of the easiness she was feeling had to do with Jasper's presence alone. It felt so unbelievable wonderful to be in his arms, feeling elatedly—and unrealistically—safe. If it were possible, she would remain in his arms for all eternity like this, if only to feel the solid existence of him cuddled close to her. Though part of her mind told her that such a thought was wishful thinking, the other, more optimistic part files it away as a prospective thought in perhaps the distant or near future.

Silence hovers over them in a hazy blanket and they thoroughly enjoy such peace, which soothes their minds. Without any pretense of warning, Alice begins to tremble against Jasper soundlessly and when he reaches downward to stroke her cheek, he finds them to be moist; Alice is crying. Alice's confused jumble of emotions—facilitating between fear, pain, anguish and despair—nearly chokes him as her tears continue to flow. Without thinking, he reaches for her and pulls her into an embrace. He can feel the icy chill of Alice's tears soaking into his sweater and his hand reaches up to cradle her head against his chest.

A muffled sob erupts from her and pierces his ears and his heart; Jasper had never heard such a sound escape Alice before and he was certain that he never wanted to hear it again. Alice digs her hands into the superficial, fragile material of Jasper's sweater, pulling him close and drawing in more of his graciously offered comfort. They remain like that for quite some time—seconds melded into minutes and minutes meshed into hours. Jasper continues to hold onto her, reluctant to let go for fear she may melt away with the silent wash of tears still gliding down her cool visage. A gasp escapes Alice followed by a helpless sound as a jolt of pain sears through her mind like a hot lance.

"It hurts . . ." Alice hisses, recoiling away from her inescapable pain and snuggling closer to him.

Jasper strokes her hair, desperately trying to relinquish the pain wracking her mind with physical solace. He continues to hold onto her and the convulsive tremors passing through her body begin to slowly subside. He can feel her entire frame relax against him as full-body relief blankets her emotions. Jasper stays with Alice until the first light of morning brightens the sky over the darkened trees that hug the acres of land that the Cullen home encompasses.

"Alice . . ." he whispers against her hair.

"Yes," she mumbles, shifting so that she is looking up at him.

"Will it be sunny today," he asks, before tracing his thumb across her pallid cheek.

Outside the sky continues to lighten, but clouds obscuring a clear view of the sun begin to become apparent. Alice moves out of his arms to stretch and shakes her head. "No."

Then after a pause, "I guess we better get ready for school then." Her voice is quiet and Jasper can detect a hint of pain, hidden in those words.

"I suppose . . ." Jasper says with a note of hesitancy.

Alice instantly picks up on this and asks, "What's wrong Jasper?"

He locks gazes with her, searching them as though they hold the key to his anxiety. "I'm just worried about you," he says after a while of staring deeply into her riveting eyes.

"I'm fine Jasper. There's no need to worry about me now," she says, but Jasper picks up a trace of doubt in her emotions and he can see its unearthly gleam there in her eyes.

Jasper brushes her cheek tenderly before getting up and leaving to prepare for yet another school day. Before he was even within a foot of the door, Jasper picks up the tactfully hidden emotions of Edward outside in the hall. He turns the doorknob and opens the door, entering the hall quietly and shutting it behind him without a word. He knew Edward hadn't been listening long and may have caught snatches of the latter part of his conversation with Alice. As soon as he was far enough away from Alice's door, Edward appeared before him, his expression blank—an unreadable mask.

"What do you want Edward," Jasper asks with a flames of contempt warming his every word.

Edward ignores the heat of his words before he says, "The truth; I want to know what's going on. Why were you in Alice's room all night?"

"It's none of your business," Jasper says, sidestepping Edward before stalking down the hall towards his room.

Edward appears before Jasper again and he has to halt mid-stride to prevent a collision with his _older_ brother. Edward remains silent for a moment, staring Jasper down with a cool gaze of irritating determination.

"Yes it is," Edward says at last. Edward shakes his head for a moment and grips Jasper by the shoulders in a pleading gesture. "Something is wrong with Alice," he continues, "and I'd like to know what, so I can tell the others."

Jasper's eyes darken in a barely controlled fury; he has to shut his eyes just to contain his beastly anger alone. "Alice doesn't need you broadcasting her business, so just leave her _alone_," he grinds out between gnashing fangs.

"Tell me," Edward hisses, trying to break through Jasper's mental defenses and uncover the truth about what was going on.

"Get out of my head," Jasper growls before swinging his fist blindly; it connects solidly with Edward's jaw, a blow that would have surely broken any human's neck or jaw in an instant.

Edward stumbles backward from the assaulting blow his back connecting with the opposite wall. His face exhibits true astonishment as he stares at a furious Jasper from across the hall. Without another glance backwards, Jasper heads down the hall to his room and locks himself in the comforting solace it offers.

******

Jasper wastes no time in getting dressed in fresh clothes and sneaks out of his room, checking the hall before leaving. He skirts past Edward's room and treads carefully across the carpeted floor to Alice's room. He knocks sharply and she opens the door instantly. Before she can utter a single word of greeting, Jasper nudges her back into her room and kicks the door closed behind him. He grips her shoulders gently and locks gazes with her.

"Alice . . . Edward is onto us," he says at last.

"What?" Alice questions quietly.

"Edward is starting to get curious about what's going on, and to top it off, he heard part of our conversation earlier on."

Alice stifles a gasp at learning this. "How much does he know?"

"Not much. He only knows something is wrong with you, but he doesn't know what. If you want to keep what's going on with you from the family, you'll have to guard your thoughts more carefully."

"I understand. I'm sure you'll do the same."

"Of course. As long as you need me to," Jasper reassures her. "Besides," he continues, "I don't like Edward prying my mind or yours for information. He tried it on me earlier and I knocked him across the hall."

Alice gasps, shocked to hear of Jasper's unusually uncharacteristic show of violence; "Is he all right?"

"Yeah, but I think his pride is hurt. My show of violence of course will only renew his vigor to discover what we're hiding from him and the rest of the family."

"I know . . ." Alice sighs. "But that's all the more reason for us to shield our thoughts."

"Yeah . . ." Jasper says, running nimble fingers through his unruly curls.

Dropping his hands from her shoulders, he reaches for her hand and tows her to the door and leads her out into the hall. Alice shuts the door behind her sharply, and allows Jasper to lead her down the stairs and out in front of the house to wait for Edward in the light drizzle spilling from the dreary clouds hovering above them. Not long after they exited the front door, Edward appears and they collectively head towards the Volvo. They silently pile into the car and settle into their own personal zones of reflective thought as soon as Edward eases the car in reverse and sends the car skidding in a whirling screech of tires down the drive. An endless sea of trees slid by the rain-pattered window; the mind-numbing pitter-patter of raindrops on the Volvo's metallic roof did nothing to disrupt their thoughts.

Alice and Jasper sat in the back seat as always, hands intertwined warmly. Both of them were shielding their thoughts and this fact frustrated Edward. He struggles to break their mental shields and plow through their minds for the truth, but this amount of psychic exertion brings him to the brink of exhaustion. Edward's hands tighten on the steering wheel, turning his knuckles paler than usual. From then on, he gives up and the car is filled to the brim with a stifling silence as they speed closer to Forks High School.

Before long, they arrive at school and enter the building together. Edward leaves them as soon as they enter the vacant halls and only Alice and Jasper remain.

"We better get to class," Jasper says, stroking the back of Alice's cool hand with his thumb. Part of him wanted her to refuse to go to class, but Alice could have an obstinate nature about her when she felt that she needed to put up a strong front to prove her worth.

"Yeah . . ." she breathes, relishing in the caress of his thumb along her hand.

She holds onto his hand with a desperate squeeze, prolonging their physical contact. Alice tries to soak in as much of his strength as she can before she leaves for class; it was perhaps the only thing that would be able to get her through the day. At last she lets go, hesitating even as her hand slides from his, before loping down the vacant halls for first period. Jasper fights the urge to call her back and heads in the opposite direction to go to his first period class.

******

By fourth period, Jasper begins to occupy his mind with troublesome thoughts that revolve around Alice's welfare. All throughout class he kept wondering how she was faring and soon his anxiety begins to wear him out; he asks for the pass as an excuse to leave class and ventures on to inquire about her health. Jasper treads down the tiled hallway like the cool passing of a ghost, careful not to disturb the other classes that were in session. Jasper continues down the main hall for a little longer before turning down a smaller more secluded hall, which held five classrooms on either side. Alice's classroom was the third one on the right and he slides along the wall farthest from the doorway and peers inside.

Alice is easy to spot; she is sitting in the first seat of the first row and is closest to the door, making her easily visible from the doorway window. Half of Alice's class was already zoning into their own private daydreams and others were sleeping away on their desks without a care in the world as the teacher droned on and on in the front of the room. Alice was one of the few who struggles to remain attentive during the teacher's lecture, but Jasper can see right through her ruse; she was suffering on the inside—he could tell. Her features may have looked to be contorted in what would at first be seen as a frown of undue concentration, but in actuality, Jasper could see it as the look of anguish that it was not meant to be seen as. Her emotions radiated out to him and he shivered at the amount of pain he could feel piercing through her mind and permeating through her overwhelmingly, powerful emotions.

Without giving much thought to his next set of actions, Jasper knocks on the classroom door. Alice sees that it's him and raises her hand, requesting to open the door.

"What are you doing here?" Alice's lips move in a blur of speed that could not be detected by the human eye and her words are so silent, they are nearly nonexistent.

"Getting you out of here," Jasper answers in the same mind boggling movement of lips that produce no sound.

Alice takes her seat quietly, watching Jasper sidle up to her teacher, bewilderment apparent in the furrowing of her brow.

"Excuse me sir," Jasper enunciates quietly and with a measure of devastating politeness.

"Yes . . ." he says. Turning his attention away from his bored class, he suddenly focuses his attention on Jasper.

"I regret to inform you that Alice will not be here the remainder of your class or the day. A family emergency has come up and Dr. Cullen needs us to be home as soon as possible."

Alice watches her teacher's face scrunch up in clear dislike of the fact that Alice would be missing his fabulous lecture, but soon relents to the inevitable.

"All right," he says, making a dismissive gesture in Alice's direction. "You're excused Alice. Be sure to make up the work from today's class and have it on my desk first thing Monday morning."

"Yes sir," Alice says, rising slowly and packing her things, mind racing with a string of thoughts.

Alice precedes Jasper and they exit the classroom quietly. Jasper shuts the door behind him, successfully cutting off the unbearable monotone of Alice's teacher. Jasper can read the questions darting behind the startlingly vivid warmth of her eyes, but he ignores them and grips her arm, tugging her further down the hall and out of earshot of the other classrooms inconveniently dotting the hall. Once they are a few paces away from the remainder of the classrooms, Jasper pulls Alice into a fierce embrace, which Alice instantly returns with as much vigor and need. He runs his hands soothingly up her back, while simultaneously easing her mind into a passively comfortable state.

They cling to each other, reluctant to leave each other's arms; their physical contact kept them rooted in the reality still ever existent in the world about them.

"Come with me," Jasper whispers against her hair after a while. "Let's get out of here . . ." Jasper holds her firmly to him, afraid and eager to hear her reply.

"Yes . . ." Alice murmurs against his chest, clinging to him more fiercely to prolong their embrace.

Without a second to lose, Jasper pulls away from Alice and grips her dainty hand in his. Fully aware of the dire consequences of his actions, Jasper begins to speed down the halls with god-like, inhuman speed with Alice keeping pace with him. It was likely that someone could have spotted them, but Jasper didn't care. He was functioning on one sole purpose: Making Alice happy again and relieving her pain—a selfless act on his part.

******

Within five minutes, they arrive at the lake. The scenery about them has taken on a dreary, cool disposition. The lake is not the vibrantly flowing rush of liquid in a confined space, but rather, a halcyon, gray reflection of the dark sky above. Even the trees around them seem to be more imposing. They stood tall as always, but they seemed to be watching all that went on about them. Jasper and Alice stand amidst this new environment silently—hands still intertwined in a needy press of cool flesh.

Alice turns and looks up at Jasper and for a while he does not acknowledge her questioning glance. He caves when she reaches upward and turns his face so that he is looking her square in the eyes. Her eyes search his for answers, but his eyes give nothing away.

"Why did you take me here," Alice asks, dropping her hand from his face.

Jasper sighs, running his free hand through his hair in a frustrated manner. "Because you were suffering; you were enduring so much pain."

Jasper takes her free hand in his and nuzzles his face against it affectionately, trailing kisses along the palm and inside of her wrist. Alice lets out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, easing her hand out of his. Jasper brings his hands to rest on her shoulders and they glide upward to tangle in her curt, almond-colored hair.

"I wanted to relieve your pain," Jasper says after a few heartbeats of silence pulsing around them.

Without hesitation, Alice collapses against him, dragging herself into the comfort of Jasper's arms. They stand amongst the bleak scenery about them, completely at peace away from the rest of the world. A soft rain begins to fall upon their prone forms and Alice looks upward at the tears that fall continuously from the gray sky above. The raindrops begin to dampen her hair instantly, clinging to her eyelashes and running down her pale cool cheeks. Jasper's tousled curls glitter with raindrops.

Jasper reaches for her chin delicately and brings her face down to eye level before locking gazes with her. A sweet smile graces Alice's lips and Jasper's heart leaps into his throat and aches with need. Her lips are moist and inviting and he doesn't resist the temptation to taste them. Leaning forward slowly, so as not to frighten her, he presses his lips firmly to hers in a tingling swell of uncontrollable emotions. Alice's lips meld perfectly to his, relenting to the coaxing assault of his lips and tongue against hers.

A cool fire ignites between them, warming their insides to the consistency of lukewarm water and such a sensation draws them closer in each other's arms. Their hands grip tightly at the other's clothes, drawing in as much of them as they possibly can without fusing their bodies together. Alice's hand reaches upward to tangle in Jasper's mass of damp curls, relishing in the feel of it against her fingers. Such need erupts between them, spilling over the edge and spurring in them a more primal desire, which for the time being they tamp down with fierce admonitions. Jasper however, does indulge in the partial fulfillment of this need by sliding a hand underneath Alice's sweater and pressing his hand against the pale expanse of her abdomen.

The instant he does this, Alice begins to feel herself grow dizzy, her equilibrium spiraling off its usual course. The world pauses around them, as if holding its breath for a moment, and suddenly resumes motion much like before, but only this time, things seem to be off-balance with the world and Alice herself. She ends the kiss when a queasy sensation settles low within her, pitching and reeling within the confines of her mind.

"Did you feel that," Alice asks, trying to orient herself from more than just Jasper's kiss.

"No . . . What did you feel," he asks, confusion marring his perfect features.

"I don't know . . . It felt like the Earth was shifting abnormally underneath me."

Jasper stares at her for quite some time, trying to contemplate what Alice was experiencing at the moment through her emotions alone.

"Are you worried about this feeling?"

"I'm not sure . . ." Alice replies with a hint of hesitancy lacing her words.

Jasper has nothing to say to that and only reaches for her, pulling her snugly into his arms. Alice brings her arms up to wrap around his torso instantly. Whatever this feeling was sure to bring, Alice was prepared to face it as long as she was in Jasper's arms.

******

Alice and Jasper spent the rest of their time together amongst the trees and the opaque surface of the lake until darkness shrouded the area in shadow; it was then that they decided to head home. As soon as they enter the bright airy comfort of the Cullen home. They face another stern lecture from Carlisle, which they had expected and speculative stares from Edward. Before long Carlisle leaves to comfort Esme once again, but not before telling them that they would be hunting tomorrow. Afterwards, Alice and Jasper head upstairs, hand-in-hand, ignoring Edward's fierce perusal. Once there, they stalk down the hall and bustle into Alice's room before shutting the door behind them.

"Do you want to stay with me tonight," Alice asks, settling down on her recliner still littered with her disheveled pillows and blankets draped along its arm and cushions haphazardly.

"I'd do anything you asked me to Alice, as long as it makes you happy," Jasper whispers to her, undying devotion coating his every word.

Alice smiles up at him brightly, and he obligingly sits down beside her without a word. He laces his fingers through hers silently and draws her closer to him. They both enter a reflective meditative state and cuddle closer to each other as nighttime blankets the Earth in what looks to be eternal darkness.

******

Daylight approaches after countless hours of perpetual and absolute darkness. Sunlight of the approaching day streams in through Alice's curtained windows and spills outward onto her carpeted floors and over her and Jasper's still forms; the sunlight glitters against their skin like so many diamonds. The warmth of the sun draws them out of their meditative states an they slide hesitantly out of each other's arms. Alice's eyes, hair and skin glows luminously warm and inviting in the sunlight and Jasper can no longer resist the temptation to kiss her again. The instant their lips touch, however, a flash of light erupts between them followed by a searing pierce of pain lancing through their bodies.

They are instantly thrown apart then, backs connecting solidly with opposite walls—Jasper on the left nearest the door and Alice on the right housing the window. The force of the impact knocks all the breath out of them and draws them into the abysmal embrace of unconsciousness.

A/N: Okay, another chapter is complete! The next one will be on its way sometime today, followed by the lemon chapter. Till then!

_Silver Moon Vampiress_


	3. The Bond

A/N: Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

*Note: This is going to be the final chapter because I'm a little pressed for time.*

**Warning:** _Lemony content included in this chapter! No readers under the age of 18!_

Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight series or characters!

Solar Eclipse

Chapter 3: _The Bond_

Alice opens her eyes slowly, blinking back the sparks of pain exploding behind her eyes and at the base of her skull. Sunlight blinds her and she blinks rapidly to adjust her eyes to the harsh and offensive lighting. From her vantage point from across the room, she can vaguely make out a shadowy figure slumped against the wall opposite hers. Mustering up a substantial amount of strength, Alice begins to shuffle in that direction on her hands and knees like that of a sluggishly graceful cat. The sunlight beats a warm path along her back as she enters a patch of it streaming brightly across her carpeted floor.

Dust mites are thrown upward by her motions across the carpet and dance about her in glittering specks along the radiance of the sunbeams. Alice soon draws near to enough to discern that the figure slumped against the wall was . . . _her_.

_I'm right here!_ _How is that possible? Unless . . . _Alice minds begins to fumble as it comes to a startling conclusion.

"We've switched bodies," Alice exclaims, hands flying upwards to cease the hysterical cry prepared to escaped her.

The feel of her hands is all wrong and she looks downward and to her chagrin she finds that, instead of her eyes coming to rest on her dainty ones, she finds them to be Jasper's sleek, smooth ones. A strangled cry escapes her when she looks downward and finds herself to indeed be in Jasper's body. This strangled cry startles Jasper out of his unconscious state and he shifts upward, resting his head against the cool surface of Alice's wall. He is still disoriented and can't seem to pinpoint the location of her voice because of the sunlight. His ears continuously ring inside of his head, so Alice's voice could have come from anywhere in the room or could have been a figment of his imagination all together.

"Jasper," Alice whispers from the other side of the sun patch streaming across the carpet.

"Yes," he murmurs dreamily, crawling towards where he hoped was where the sound of her voice had originated.

All is silent except in the room except the sound of Jasper's fluid movements across the sun-warmed carpet. Jasper's eyes search the other side of the room but the sunlight inhibits his vision and all he can make out on the other side of the room are imposing shadows hugging the walls.

"Jasper is that you," Alice asks as he draws nearer to her.

"Of course it's me," he says, wondering what had gotten into Alice. _Who else would it be?_

For some reason he couldn't pick up what she was feeling through her emotions and he found that rather odd. But then again, he had hit his head pretty hard and perhaps his ability was paralyzed for the time being and was trying to reboot itself into working order once again. Jasper soon enters the patch of sunlight that stands between him and Alice and at last he comes face to face with . . . _himself_. His face falls in bewilderment as he tries to rationalize the situation, but his mind was stuttering in incomprehension of what was before him. As if the sight of himself before him wasn't relevant proof enough, he brought, what he assumes to be his hands, up before his face and finds them to be Alice's instead.

_Maybe it's a trick of light_, he reasons with his befuddled mind, but the feel of Alice's hair flowing through his fingers—or Alice's as the situation would have it—certainly was not a mere trick of light.

"Alice?"

"Yes . . ." she whispers.

"What's going on?"

"I-I think we switched bodies . . ."

"H-How? How is that even possible," he asks in clear disbelief of the situation they had found themselves in.

"I think it may have been the solar eclipse . . . Maybe that's what my vision was trying to tell me. Perhaps that is the connection the solar eclipse has with us."

Alice was silent for a few minutes, contemplating the impossibility and raw possibility of their situation. True, they had switched bodies, but their voices had switched as well it seemed, making it all the more difficult to fool the others, but what of their abilities . . .

"Jasper?" Alice asks suddenly.

"Yeah . . ." Jasper murmurs still trying to wrap his mind around the impossible.

"Can you still sense my emotions?"

"Umm . . . No, actually. I just thought that hitting my head must have jumbled my mind and it's in the process of getting things back in order, including the proper functioning of my emotional manipulation."

"Oh . . . I haven't even tried to see into the future yet. Let me give it a try," Alice says.

She eases her eyes closed in concentration, focusing on trying to make a vision come to her. She focuses for countless moments trying to bring forth a picturesque depiction of some future event—_any_ future event—but nothing comes to mind. All that resulted from her intense concentration was a mild headache growing between her eyes. Alice's eyes flutter open languidly and she shakes her head in confusion.

"I don't get it . . ." she murmurs.

"What? What's the matter, Alice?"

"I can't seem to produce a vision of the future . . . It's like all I'm getting is static when I turn the station on a mono frequency radio."

"Really," Jasper asks, his mind beginning to contemplate yet another possible impossibility. After a moment he asks, "Alice can you sense what emotions are surrounding me right now?"

"Huh," Alice asks, trying to understand where Jasper is going with such a thought. "You think that I now have the ability to read and manipulate other's emotions? How's that possible?"

"Well, what can be more impossible than two vampires of different genders switching bodies."

"Well . . . I suppose nothing that I have heard about . . ."

"Then give it a try. Center yourself and breathe in deeply before reaching out psychically," he encourages, placing a warm hand in hers.

"All right . . . I'll give it a try," Alice says hesitantly before settling down to follow Jasper's instructions.

She centers herself, focusing her mind on all that was around her and never letting her mind stray from its intense focus. After a deep breath, she begins to reach out psychically much like she does when she's reading someone's future from touch alone. A tingling rush of energy races up her spine, sending a shiver through her entire body. A gasp escapes her, as she suddenly becomes aware of the emotions surrounding her. Reaching out, she grasps Jasper's emotions in an instant—confusion, bewilderment, and wonder lace every fiber of his being. Alice tries hard to concentrate on his emotions alone, but she can sense other emotions about her and her mind reels from the sensation of them assaulting her senses.

An exciting thrill jabs through her mind and she begins to feel an overwhelming swell of bloodlust begin to override her better judgment and take over her primal instincts she had thought she had buried underneath years of meditation and constant focus. _Perhaps this is what Jasper feels around the humans when he picks up their emotions_, she reasons, fighting the urge to sate the bloodlust that is slowly ridding her of all rational thought. From far off, she can hear a voice calling out her name and she fights the bloodlust in order to return to reality.

Jasper reaches for Alice and shakes her gently, calling her name in apprehension as her body begins to convulse. He shakes her harder when she doesn't respond, and at last her eyes open in a sharp flutter of her eyelids. Her eyes are darkened by the bloodlust that has overtaken her and she lunges forward with an animalistic snarl. She tackles Jasper in her body onto the carpet and tries embedding her fangs in his throat, but Jasper manages to hold her off until the influence of her bloodlust subsides. Alice slumps forward then, easing herself beside Jasper, breathing ragged and head pounding with some unknown ache.

"I'm sorry," she whispers to him, rubbing her aching temples in soothing circles. "I don't know what came over me.

"I do . . ." Jasper says simply with a detectable hint of bitterness. "My ability has always been paired with such blood lust, which is the reason why I had such a difficult time transitioning from human blood to animal blood."

"Oh . . ." she murmurs silently, at a loss of what to say to that. After an unsettling silence settles over them, Alice asks, "What about you? Do you think you can try having a vision?"

"I'll try . . ." Jasper says. "What do I have to do?"

"All you have to do is focus on a general idea, like say the school and a vision that relates to that idea will be produced. But if you want to be more specific, you have to think of a more focused idea like say a what's going to go on during a specific class."

Pushing himself up from the carpeted floor, Jasper closes his eyes in focus and thinks of the hunting trip they have planned with the rest of the family. At first nothing comes to mind and he begins to worry that nothing will appear, that is, until a piercing jab of heat wracks his mind as images of Edward and the rest hunting, wild and free, enters his mind. As the images fade, Jasper can feel the edges of his mind ignite and slowly burn through to the center of it. He curls onto his side, rocking himself on the warm carpet, waiting for the pain to subside. Alice offers him a hand and he takes it in a firm grip, which eases some of his pain immensely.

After a while, the searing burn of his mind is quelled by Alice's touch and he struggles up from his fetal position on the floor. He reaches for her then, pulling her into an embrace that steals her breath away.

"Is this what you go through every time you have a vision," he asks holding her close to him, though she is in his body.

"Yes . . ." she whispers, fighting back tears.

Another silence settles over them, but it is soon broken by a curt knock on the door.

"Come in," Alice calls out in Jasper's body, unaware that everyone else could hear her as Jasper only, not as Alice like Jasper could.

"Jasper," Edward utters in question, pausing a moment.

Jasper presses a finger to Alice's lips and calls out "Come in."

Edward peeks his head in through the door before entering to find Alice and Jasper sitting beside each other on the floor. His eyes take in the situation, but he simply says, "We'll be leaving to hunt in about a half an hour. Be ready by then."

Edward gives them one more look that could be interpreted as confusion before leaving the room. Alice and Jasper breathe a sigh of relief and they share a glance of understanding.

"Well, it seems that only we can hear each other with our normal voices and everyone else can only hear us in the voice of the body we're trapped in," Jasper notes.

"That's interesting . . . At least we don't have to worry about that. Now the question is: How do we get back to normal?"

"I have no idea," Jasper says, shrugging his shoulders lightly.

"Well, let's see . . . The solar eclipse was the cause of this phenomenon. Now what was the trigger . . .?"

Alice tilts her head to the side in contemplation of what could've possibly caused them to switch bodies. Jasper was lost in his own thoughts, thinking back to what had occurred before they found themselves in each other's bodies, and that's when he came up with a plausible cause for the switch.

"The kiss," he exclaims. "The kiss was the trigger. That and perhaps the sunlight."

"You think so . . ." she asks in disbelief, but not afraid to consider the possibility. "That could be it, considering there is nothing else we can go on."

"True. The kiss is easy to orchestrate, but what of the sun? When will it be sunny again?"

"Well, I can no longer answer that question because I can't have visions. Only you can do that," Alice states matter-of-factly.

"I know . . . Will you do me a favor, though?" Jasper asks, gaze locking with hers.

"Anything," she offers.

"Can you hold my hand while I do it?"

"Of course," Alice says, offering her hand with a bright smile that even gracing Jasper's lips was unbelievably and wonderfully warm.

With the reassuring pressure of Alice's hand in his, Jasper focuses on the sun and more specifically, what day it would appear again. He is unsure of how he knows, but the day comes to mind and the image of the sun eases from his mind. He returns to reality, Alice's hand still intertwined in his, the pain nothing but a distant throb at the base of his skull.

"Thank you," he whispers, planting a kiss on her forehead.

"So what day will we be able to switch back," Alice asks, barely controlling the eagerness bubbling up within her.

"Luckily for us," Jasper says, "tomorrow the sky is going to clear up and the sun is going to appear, but only for a specific window of time."

"From what time?"

"Noon to one."

"That's plenty of time," Alice says, a sigh of relief escaping her. "So all we have to do is make it through today and early tomorrow morning."

"Yeah . . . Speaking of which," Jasper murmurs, standing up and stretching, "we have to get ready for the hunting trip."

"I know . . ." Alice says, following Jasper's lead.

Thinking nothing of it, Jasper begins to head out of Alice's room in her body, heading towards his room. It isn't until he is in front of his room that he realizes that he is not himself—literally. Before he can correct his mistake, Rosalie exits her room and pauses at the sight of him in Alice's body entering his room.

"Alice, what are you doing? Shouldn't you being getting dressed?"

"Umm . . ." Jasper fumbles. "I was just heading to my room. I just have to ask Jasper something."

"Oh, okay . . ." she says, continuing down the hall in the direction of the staircase.

Jasper breathes a sigh relief and enters his room to gather clothes for Alice to put on. Being more careful this time, he exits his room and treads down the hall and enters Alice's room without knocking. Once inside he tosses the clothes at her and she catches them with ease.

"Put these on," he says.

Alice is quick to oblige and is dressed within minutes. Jasper however, is not dressed and Alice stalks over to her closet and pulls out some clothes for him to put on from her expansive closet.

"Put these on," she says, handing him the clothes. "And no peeking."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Jasper says with a devilishly handsome grin.

In record time he is dressed and ready and they leave Alice's room, hand-in-hand.

******

Once everyone is dressed and ready to go, Carlisle leads his family to his favorite hunting grounds to feed. They have to venture far into the mountains, but the trip is well worth it; the view is breathtaking. From amidst the snow-covered foliage sprouting about the mountain, snatches of Forks below them can be seen. The air was clear here—and so startlingly fresh that it was almost painful to breathe in such pure, untouched air. Carlisle leads his troop through the winding trails that circled the mountain, fresh crusted snow crunching underfoot as they follow close behind one another.

It wasn't long before they began to pick up the scent of the woodland creatures taking shelter amongst the frosted forest. The hunt was on . . .

Carlisle was the first to take off in search of his choice of prey—a moose. Esme followed close behind him, sensing her prey as well—a lone and docile lamb. Since Edward would not be able to find his choice of prey here—the lion—he settles for hunting grizzly bears with Emmett. Rosalie, never far away from Emmett follows soon after—wishing to hunt with her true love Emmett. This leaves only Alice and Jasper amongst the endlessly white forest.

"What do you usually hunt," Alice asks, turning to face him.

"Grizzlies."

"All right then, you'll have to hunt the gracefully demure fawn in my stead."

"Be careful," he whispers to her before taking off towards a distant part of the forest.

"You too," she calls after him.

******

After hours of hunting Alice and Jasper begin to learn a thing or two about the food they so loved to hunt when in their own bodies. Alice learned how in order to hunt a grizzly, she had to be one her toes, use her speed and aggression to overpower it, and most of all, be able to fool it. Though she had to learn that the hard way. Twice, a grizzly had almost taken her head off in Jasper's body and Edward and Emmett had to intervene to prevent such a tragic end.

"Are you all right today Jasper," Emmett asked Alice in Jasper's body while they were taking a break from hunting. "You seem a little out-of-it."

_In more ways that one_, Alice thought as she struggled to come up with an adequate response. "Umm . . . I'm just a little rusty is all. I just need to find my flow again," she told him and Emmett seemed to be satisfied with that response.

Edward, however, was not and pinned Alice with a stare that would have put a raging inferno out in an instant. Alice said nothing however and continued on his way.

Meanwhile, Jasper was having a bit of an easier time hunting fawns, or so he had thought. He hadn't realized that fawns could be so quick and had to actually move a bit faster to keep up and keep his sights trained on its darting form. He also had to be careful of the low hanging branches that protruded like the gnarled hands of a shriveled up body and interrupted the flow of the forest, for it was the fawn's only defense against him. If it could somehow lead him into a trap, then it could get away from him easily, which it nearly did several times in the beginning.

Both Alice and Jasper were grateful when the day was over and gladly entered the Cullen home, rushing upstairs to Alice's room. All that stood in the way of normality now was several hours of darkness and a few hours of bleak clouds blocking out the sun.

******

Morning finally arrived and Alice and Jasper were eager to leave for the lake where they would at last return to their respective bodies after a kiss shared in the sun. Unable to control their eagerness, they left the Cullen home for the lake decidedly early to wait for the appearance of the sun there and so as not to miss their window of opportunity. Upon their arrival at the lake, the clouds began to lighten with the shining of the sun's rays behind their cloak of obscurity. Alice and Jasper settle down beside each other, watching the clouds glide idly by and awaiting the approaching brightness of high noon.

"Do remember how we met Jasper," Alice asks him quietly.

"Yes . . . How could I ever forget?"

"Do you remember the promise you made to me all those years ago?"

"Of course," he replies, turning onto his side to stare down at her still housed inside his body. "I remember it as though it were merely yesterday . . ."

******

_She had seen him once in a vision . . . It had been so long ago, but even then she knew that they were meant to meet. After that vision, she knew what her purpose was in life: She had to find Jasper and together they would find a man named Carlisle who would take them in and guide them down a path of righteousness even though they were damned creatures of this Earth. She searched long and hard for Jasper, relying heavily on her visions to guide her to him and after several months of searching she found him. It was a good thing she did . . . _

_Jasper was apart of a different sort of vampire family, which fed off the blood of humans, but also indulged themselves in the systematic rape of their victims, followed by dismemberment. The thought alone was enough to make her sick and scare her half out of her mind, but she forced herself to be brave and entered this family of vampires' territory with little thought to her relative safety. All she could concern herself with now was getting through to Jasper and taking him with her in search of Carlisle._

_Upon first glance at this pixie-like vampire woman before him, Jasper could tell she was afraid and she should have been—he could have easily killed her on the spot. Her emotions radiated out to him, confirming her fear, but something about her fear, did something to him. Part of him didn't want her to fear him and he didn't understand why at the time._

"_What do you want woman," he hissed, demanding an answer from her._

"_It's hard to explain this, but I had a vision about you and I need you to come with me to search for a man named Carlisle."_

_Jasper laughed at this. "Me? Come with you? Do you really believe I would do such a thing?"_

"_But my vision predicted as much . . ." she began, but Jasper held up a hand to silence her._

"_You're vision was wrong, now go home."_

_An unwanted tear escaped Alice's eye and she hastily wiped it away before turning to leave. Something about the sight of her tears stirred something inside him then and left a sickening lump lodged painfully in the center of his heart. For days he fought off unbidden thoughts of Alice. When his family mentioned that they were going to do a systematic sweep for vampires not apart of their clan, Jasper thought nothing of it until he sensed Alice's emotional signature still located nearby. With total disregard of the consequences of his actions, Jasper raced to her rescue and saved her from his family's wrath._

_Without a second thought, Jasper relinquished his ties to his family and left with Alice in search of Carlisle._

"_I'll always be by your side and here to protect you," he had said and he had lived up to those words each and every day he spent with her._

******

Alice smiles, recalling his words with freshly painted images of their journey dancing across her mind. Jasper too is recalling their past together and smiles as he remembers Alice's bravery in the face of so many of his former family members. They remain quiet for quiet some time, taking in the slowly warming air as the sun begins to shine its rich rays through the blanket of clouds obscuring its face. Both Alice and Jasper rise to their feet as the sun peeks through the overhanging clouds and turn to face each other with smiles that mirror the happiness they have felt with one another and the loving joy they share.

Without any more hesitation, both Alice and Jasper lean towards each other, their lips clashing in a breath-stealing rush that draws gasps from each of them. A soft light engulfs them and they both feel as though the Earth is shifting beneath them as they switch bodies in an instant. Even though they are aware that the switch has occurred they can't seem to break away from each other—the need for physical contact of a varying degree from holding hands ignites a flame of desire, which melts away all pretenses.

Alice's hands roam along the expanse of Jasper's broad back and Jasper mirrors her movements on hers. Their lips work in perfect unison as they begin to remove the others clothing, the thrilling and occasional brush of bare skin sending exhilarating rushes of pleasure up their spines. Once the clothing barrier is no longer an issue, they explore each other with wanton caresses ignited by their desire and painful need to be by each other's side—always. Alice's cries of need spur Jasper on and he pleasures her with gentle caresses that tease her flesh and leave her wanting more. Alice is not demure as she seems and reaches for him boldly, stroking him until he cries in ecstasy.

Patience is a distant idea, which they no longer comprehend and they indulge in the baser more primal needs their bodies crave. They move together like a sinuously orchestrated dance that brings them ever closer to that moment of pure bliss. Their pants of need fill the air and soon their cries of peak fulfillment follow suit. They lay there for quite some time, breathless and at ease as the sun continues to warm their cool skin.

"I love you . . ." Alice whispers against Jasper's chest.

"I love you too . . ." he whispers back, running a hand through her sun-warmed hair. "I think I loved you the moment I laid eyes on you."

"Me too," she says, snuggling closer to him.

Watching the clouds go by, they each remember the promise they made to each other: To stay by each other's side forevermore.

A/N: So that's it! I hoped you enjoyed this short story of mine. I wish I could have spent more time on it, but school and life kept interfering. Aww . . . well! Please be kind and drop me a review! Much love to all.

_Silver Moon Vampiress_


End file.
